SUFFRAGETTE-British Women Fight for Women's Rights

It's easy (& comfortable) to forget the suffering of those who paved the way for our established rights.  It's also understandable (though not excusable,) we often taken privileges for granted.  As shown in  SELMA, African Amer. were brutally beaten & arrested for their non-violent protests seeking civil & voting rights in the 1950's.  SUFFRAGETTE is a political/social drama that depicts that oppression & struggles of women in the early 20th C.  The film by British dir. Sarah Gavron ("Brick Lane") and British screenwriter Abi Morgan ("The Iron Lady") is about the battles wrought by impoverished,  working class women fueled on by women of aristocracy.  Peaceful means gave way to violent  protests.  Decades of non-violence proved futile in garnering equal rights for women.  Carey Mulligan is Joe, an industrial worker since childhood with a husband & young son.  She inadvertently gets caught up in the suffragette movement but becomes a prominent advocate.  She is made to suffer greatly by the police and her husband. He bars her from their home & their son for her affiliations.  Husband had the legal righ to give their son up for adoption; women had no authority.  This is not a Mary Poppins movie with only stylish suffragettes. The upper class women could afford to be staunch women's advocates without fear of reprisal.  This is a harsh (& at times melodramatic) film showing how mercilessly abused a class of women lived who were systematically disavowed their rights. Men  were granted omnipotence over their wives.  Women of aristocracy cheered on those who served prison time for the cause but were not subject to  the same repercussions.  The all star cast includes Helena Bonham Carter and the always imitable actor, Brendan Gleeson as the lead investigator.  He persecutes the women in the ranks with a dawning awareness of shameful injustice.  Meryl Streep's minuscule screen time doesn't merit promoting.  Although a commendable film of social justice, the film is not formidable.  The years voting rights for women were 1st established are credited at the end.